PARSIPPANY — A Superior Court judge has ruled that a lease former Mayor James Barberio executed on behalf of the township during his final days in office is void and unenforceable, finding that he lacked the legal authority to sign it without Township Council approval.
The ruling, issued September 11 by the Honorable Noah Franzblau, P.J. Cv. (Acting), in Morris County Superior Court, resolves the central claim in a lawsuit filed by Nicholas Neglia against the Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills over a lease for a township-owned property known as Watnong Gardens.
According to court documents, Barberio, the sitting mayor at the time, lost his re-election bid to Mayor Pulkit Desai in the November 2025 general election. Barberio challenged the election result, and that challenge was dismissed in December.. Despite the election loss, on December 30, 2025, while still mayor, Barberio executed a lease permitting Neglia to reside at Watnong Gardens, a roughly two-acre township-owned property with a street address of 2387 Watnong Terrace, in exchange for property maintenance services rather than rent. Barberio’s term ended December 31, 2025.
After Barberio left office, the township notified Neglia that it considered the lease invalid and would not allow him to move in. Neglia sued in May, asking the court to either declare the lease valid because Barberio had the authority to sign it, or, alternatively, to find the township equitably estopped from terminating it.
Neglia’s attorneys argued that a 2020 Township Council resolution authorizing a caretaker agreement for Watnong Gardens and Craftsman Farm gave the sitting mayor ongoing authority to execute such leases. The township countered that the resolution was not a valid basis for the lease and that it violated the state’s Optional Municipal Charter Law, commonly known as the Faulkner Act, because any lease of township property required Township Council approval that Barberio never sought.
In his written opinion, Judge Franzblau agreed with the township on both points. He found that the 2020 resolution improperly attempted to grant the mayor open-ended, permanent leasing authority, a power that should have been established through an ordinance rather than a resolution. He also found that, separate from that issue, Parsippany’s mayor-council form of government under the Faulkner Act required Barberio to present the lease to the Township Council for approval, which he did not do. As a result, the judge ruled that Barberio acted without authority, or ultra vires, in signing the lease, rendering it void from the outset.
The ruling leaves open Neglia’s alternative argument that the township should be equitably estopped from terminating the lease. The judge vacated an earlier August 3 order that would have allowed that claim to move forward as a summary action, finding that the issue instead requires formal discovery. The case will now proceed on that narrower claim.
